Alba Mineral Resources (ALBA ) updated markets on its wholly owned Clogau-St David's and Dolgellau gold projects in north Wales, specifically on its application for permits and a European Protected Species license (EPSL) in respect of its proposed dewatering and exploratory works at its primary target within the Lower Llechfraith workings at Clogau.

Alba said it has received comments from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) relating to the EPSL and expects to compile and send a response to NRW within the next two weeks. Alba expects that NRW will proceed to a decision soon thereafter, so dewatering activities may proceed.

The company advised that until permitting from NRW is secured, activites at Clogau-St David's Mine will likely be deferred, notably including the permitting of the Waste Tip for commercial exploitation.

It also commented on its plans to conduct a geophysical survey over high-grade gold targets within the Dolgellau gold exploration project. Alba advised that survey operations are expected to take place between June and August following CAA approval.

 

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Alba is putting ground-based activities at Clogau-St David on hold until it prepares a response to NRW and receives a decision. The news elicited a negative reaction from markets, pushing ALBA shares down 8%.

However, there is no reason to expect that the permitting process will not proceed as planned. Alba expects to compile and send a response to NRW within the next 2 weeks, and a decision is expected shorlty thereafter. Alba will then proceed with dewatering and exploratory works at Clogau.

At the same time, Alba will push forward with permitting and technical activities in relation to the Waste Tip where its exploratory campaign has already revealed assay grades of 3.5 g/t, with gold concentrates produced at the on-site pilot plant at an average grade of 502 g/t. Alba said this indicated real potential for the Waste Tip to be separately mined for gold.

Meanwhile, Alba's 54%-owned GreenRoc Mining (GROC ) holds one of the highest-grade graphite deposits in the world in the Amitsoq graphite project in Southern Greenland. Amitsoq has a resource estimate of 23.05 Mt at an average grade of 20.41% graphite, following January's 3x resource increase. As the Amitsoq island deposit remains open in at least two directions, there is potential for further expansion of the resource in the future.

Previously, GreenRoc had confirmed that Amitsoq graphite could be purified to exceed the EV battery requirement of 99.95%.

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